Netflix documentary Curry & Cyanide: A close-up of Jolly Joseph

Jolly Joseph (second from right) is said to have killed six people between 2002 and 2016. (Screen grab from trailer of Netflix documentary Curry & Cyanide via YouTube)

Once upon a time in a little village in Kerala, a young mother garnished food with a pinch of cyanide and served it to people she did not like. She was the very picture of help and support at the funeral, though. So the story goes…

Jolly Joseph, who allegedly bumped off six people, including husband, mother-in-law, father-in-law, an elderly relative, a baby and its mother, is a heroine of sorts in the new Netflix documentary, Curry & Cyanide.

The true-crime documentary, directed by Christo Tomy, is the account of what could have happened. In the absence of official confessions or a legal verdict, the documentary relies on interviews with her late husband’s brother and sister, who were the first to suspect that the deaths were not natural and also to bring police into the picture, leading to six exhumations to test for traces of cyanide.

Jolly’s son Romo is certain, just like his paternal uncle and aunt, that his mother has committed the horrific crimes. Both he and his aunt, Renji, say Jolly personally admitted to them that she did commit the crimes. Jolly’s lawyer, though, says that there is no evidence to support any of the murder accusations. Traces of cyanide were found only in two cases.

The documentary does give us an in-depth look behind the 2019 headlines, but like all such reports that do not tie up loose ends, it leaves us with many questions. Jolly, who has been caught lying about her degrees (she is not a graduate or post-graduate as she claims) and her job (she lied that she was working at the National Institute of Technology in Kozhikode), is a prime suspect. The murders all happened when she was around. A couple of times it was only her with the victim in their last moments.

The photo of her and her current husband kissing his dead wife’s face together, their lips on either of her cheeks at the same time, is one for the crime records. That moment, says Renji, was what gave her pause. There was some kind of suppressed joy and contentment on Jolly’s face, her demeanor brisk, yet cheery. Most culprits do give themselves away when they think no one’s looking.

Renji talks about the unpleasantness she faced within the family circles when she demanded the bodies be dug up. But she felt the dead were with her in spirit.

If no one wants to believe Jolly could have done what she is said to have done, it is not just because the body count is too high and the murder weapon the same in each case, it is because the killer is a woman and a mother. Even those who suspected her, the elderly relative who died soon after under suspicious circumstances when alone with Jolly, and her first husband Roy’s siblings, did so reluctantly and too late.

Curry & Cyanide shows the various stages of disbelief the Koodathayi community went through. The very possibility that an ordinary looking woman in her early 40s can be a serial killer does bring some kind of gender parity to crime.